The other night, I had a conversation with a fellow member of our church\u2019s Dominican Republic mission team who was troubled by the way that we are leaving behind people we just barely got to know. It\u2019s the toughest part of every mission trip: saying hasta pronto<\/em> when you know very well it\u2019s going to be hasta never<\/em>. I told my teammate what I\u2019ve come to believe: that somehow I\u2019m getting to know God better even through people I barely got to know.<\/p>\n I really think that the fact that we\u2019re all created in the image of God means more than just a static imprint we receive at the beginning of our lives. God\u2019s image is a dynamic reality that we radiate continually as His image-bearers. Granted, not everyone exudes God to the same degree. Sin distorts our ability to be image-bearers, but I don\u2019t think it ever does so absolutely. In any case, when we get to know people in other countries, we\u2019re getting to know another side of God\u2019s personality. The reason it\u2019s not all a wash when we have intensive short-term relationships that end abruptly is because it\u2019s part of our process of getting to know God, and that relationship never ends.<\/p>\n So I wanted to share a little bit about some of our Dominican brothers and sisters who helped me get to know God better this past week:<\/p>\n There were many other people whom God used to bless us when we were there. I am sad to leave them but I know that they like all other compa\u00f1eros in the viaje of coming to know God will forever be a part of who I am.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The other night, I had a conversation with a fellow member of our church\u2019s Dominican Republic mission team who was troubled by the way that we are leaving behind people we just barely got to know. It\u2019s the toughest part of every mission trip: saying hasta pronto when you know very well it\u2019s going to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1934,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[768,1278,1894],"class_list":["post-1891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture_","tag-dominican-republic","tag-imago-dei","tag-mission-trip"],"yoast_head":"\n\n